MICHIGAN TALES : August 2019

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Kitch-iti-kipi ~ Michigan's Largest Fresh Water Spring

Photo by J. Moyer July 2019

Only a short 103 miles west from the Mackinac Bridge, (and I say short because there is a lot to see and do between the two destinations) and a little north off of Highway 2, a little west of Manistique, Michigan is a place so majestic and so peaceful you would think you were in Paradise, except Paradise is north of the bridge. This place is called Kitch-iti-kipi, which has a few meanings: "Mirror to Heaven" "Big Cold Water" or "the Big Spring." A person has to pay for a state park parking pass (or pay for the recreation passport when renewing a license plate) but the rest of park is free. Perfect for anyone's budget.

DISCOVERY

In the early 1920's, a time after WWI and before the Great Depression, John I. Bellaire came upon the land to open up a Five and Dime store in Manistique. Logging was a popular occupation in the Upper Peninsula. When Bellaire seen the property, loggers have left the area looking rather shabby, with piles of trash left behind and vegetation over growing the area. Being a man who loved nature, Bellaire helped clean up the area. He was mesmerized by the bubbling spring and clear waters. He knew the spring should be shared by many.

Sign at the park
Photo by J. Moyer July 2019

Photo by J. Moyer July 2019

In 1926, Palms Book Land Company sold close to 90 acres, including the cool springs to the State of Michigan for only $10 with the promise that it will always stay state owned. Over the course of time, the State of Michigan also purchased land around the area bringing the Palms Book State Park to 308 acres.

With the help of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal Plan, the Civilian Conservation Corps was able to construct an observation raft, docks, as well as a concession stand for visitors to enjoy. Mr. Bellaire, himself, enjoyed showing the spring to those who came by to visit.

The raft that is self-propelled that goes over the spring.
Photo by J. Moyer July 2019

View of the waiting dock. You can see how clear the water is with the reflection
of the trees above, The wait was not too long, especially in July.
Photo by J. Moyer July 2019.

On board the roof-covered raft, it helps make looking into the water clearer.
It is not overly crowded and easy to move around on the raft.
Photo by J. Moyer July 2019

Operating the raft is volunteered base by the visitors.
Photo by J. Moyer July 2019

Rules to follow while visiting Kitch-iti-kipi
Photo by J. Moyer July 2019

The rafts have improved with time. Now it is a self guided raft that pulls from one side of the pool to the other side with the use of a volunteer from someone on the raft. There is a large cut out in the middle of the raft to make it easier for visitors to look down deep into the cool, constant, 45 degree waters.

THE SPRING

Kitch-iti-kipi is 200 feet across and 45 feet deep. The waters are so clear that it is easy to see all the way down to the bottom and view the white sulfate-preserved logs and the many variety of trout swimming below. No need to pull out your fishing pole as fishing is not allowed at this state park and neither is swimming. You can, however, fish and swim in Indian Lake, that is connected to the spring by a small creek. Near the middle, a person can see the bubbling spring pushing out 10,000 gallons of water per minute as it churns up the floor bed, giving a geyser-like impression.

Photo by J. Moyer July 2019

From this map, a person can see where the spring is located off a small channel on Indian Lake.
Photo by J. Moyer July 2019

In the video you can see the bubbling of the springs
on the bottom of the sea floor.
Video by J. Moyer July 2019

The spring bubbling up.
Photo by J. Moyer July 2019

From the middle of the raft it is easy to see the trout swimming below.
Photo by J. Moyer July 2019

The fallen trees almost seem preserved in time below the waters
Photo by J. Moyer
July 2019

The geographical formation happens when there is elevation is higher around the spring. Water will build up from rain, or snow melting into the ground. The bedrock below will start to form channels and water pushes the bedrock out of the way. Finally, it reaches its breaking point where the water shoots out of the ground, forming the pool.

Images on the raft give a great explaination of how the spring works.
Photo by J. Moyer July 2019

LEGEND

As with most Native American places, there must be a legend. And Kitchi-iti-kipi has a few.

One legend is about a young Native American, Kitchi-iti-kipi, who was trying to impress a young lady, who did not share his love back. She insisted that he proves his love to her by sailing out in the canoe in the deep spring and catch her as she leaped from an overhanging branch. Instead, his canoe flipped over in the brisk waters and he drowned. The lady Native American never went to the spring. She stayed at the village, laughing at his attempt to prove his love to her. It was rumored that Bellaire made up the legend to make the spring seem a bit more appealing.
In speaking of true love, there is a Native American ritual, using the freshwater spring, that would make someone your true love by taking a drop of honey on birch bark and dipping it into the spring. Then give the gift of bark to your love one and they will fall forever in love with you. Another legend was to ground the bark into a fine powder and stick the powder in your pocket. At the stroke of midnight, the powder turns into gold.
Another legend is a little less romantic. Native Americans would listen to the sounds of the spring and name their babies after the sounds they would hear, such as, We-shi which means little fish, or Kakushika, which means big eye.

This amazing geological feature is well worth the time to go visit. This park is open for enjoyment during all four seasons. The water says at 45 degrees so it will never freeze. With over 70,000 tourists annually, it is easy to see that Kitch-iti-kipi is one of Michigan's best kept secret.

Photo by J. Moyer July 2019

The channel leading out towards Indian Lake.
Photo by J. Moyer July 2019

Photo of self at the Springs
Photo by J. Moyer July 2019

Sources:
http://www.exploringthenorth.com/bigspring/spring.html
https://upsupply.co/places/kitch-iti-kipi
http://www.visitmanistique.com/bigspring.shtml
https://marquettemonthly.org/the-big-spring/
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/kitch-iti-kipi
http://michigannomad.com/2018/01/24/visiting-kitch-iti-kipi-the-big-spring/

Monday, August 19, 2019

Marquette - Man of Purpose

Father Marquette (Pere Marquette in French)
Photo by J. Moyer December 2017 Ludington, Michigan

We see his name everywhere in Michigan: Pere Marquette River, Pere Marquette Railroad (and trail), Pere Marquette Beach, the County of Marquette (both in Michigan and Wisconsin), as well as the town of Marquette. But why is he given such an honor as having his name revered all over Michigan? What did he do that was so remarkable that he even has a statue of him at Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol?

Image from aoc.gov
Architect of the Capitol

The age of exploration was set in full motion when Jacques Marquette was born in the northern town of Laon, France on June 1, 1637. During this time, France was already settling colonies and sending missionaries around the eastern area in Canada known as New France. Trois-Rivieres, now Quebec, was just founded a few years earlier before Marquette's birth. Jean Nicolet was on an expedition through the Great Lakes in hopes to find a Northwest Passage to the Pacific Ocean being the first European to the area.

At the young age of 17, wanderlust Jacque Marquette joined the Jesuit order. The Jesuits is a Roman Catholic missionary organization that helps, not only with missionary, but also educational and charitable services. Their main calling, in that time era, was to help convert the Native American's to Catholicism. The Jesuits were known by the indigenous people as "Black Robes" because they would wear black robes as they proselytize in new areas. They were easy to spot out among the Europeans and was usually the go-to person between the Europeans and the tribes. As a Jesuit, Marquette took vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.

Marquette set sail to New France when he was 29 years old. Under the leadership of Father Gabriel Druillettes, Marquette learned many indigenous languages, such as Algonquin, Iroquois, Huron as well as a few others. He was quick to pick up on the languages, learning them in about 2 years. Doing well with his myriad of languages, he was assigned to a mission at Sault Ste. Marie for about a year in 1668, having it become one of the first European settlements in Michigan.

He was assigned a new mission to replace Father Claude Allouez, on the far west side of Lake Superior at La Point du Saint Esprit, near Chequarnegon Bay, Wisconsin and found himself among the Huron and Ottawa tribes. In 1658, this was one of the first sites in Wisconsin to be occupied by Europeans. It was from the Huron tribe that Father Marquette learned about a great river that flowed south that the Hurons, themselves, didn't know where the river ended. He became very curious about the river and the other tribes, such as the Illinois tribe, that live along its route and longed to set up a missionary there.

However, in the spring of 1671, the Sioux tribe was making an advancement upon the Huron and Ottawa tribes. Huron and Ottawa tribes fled east and the Ottawa tribe resettled at Manitoulin Islands and Marquette went with the Hurons and settled at Mackinac Island for a short time before they realized the soil there was not good for planting.

On Mackinac Island, with the fort in the background.
Photo by J. Moyer July 2019

Example of what the chapel may have looked like on Mackinac Island
Photo by J. Moyer July 2019

A closer look at the building structure similar to what Father Marquette may have built.
Photo by J. Moyer July 2019

The image show the locations of the Missions of Father Marquette in the Straits.
Photo by J. Moyer July 2019

They moved on north to St. Ignace, which Father Marquette named after St. Ignatius Loyola. It soon became a popular fur trading village between Green Bay, Wisconsin and Sault Ste. Marie.

Historical marker in honor of the St. Ignace Mision
Photo by J. Moyer July 2019

Statue of Father Marquette at his memorial site in St. Ignace
Photo by J. Moyer 2019

Father Marquette's knowledge of the variety of indigenous languages had finally paid off. In 1672, Louis Jolliet, a French-Canadian explorer and skilled voyageur, had orders for Marquette to join him in exploring the mighty river, which was rumored to be the famous waterway to the Pacific Ocean. They made a perfect pair for such an exploration; Marquette being a spiritual leader wanting to proselytize and could interpret many languages; Jolliet, representing France for expansion for economical and settlement purposes.

On the morning of May 17, 1673, the two men, along with 5 others, set sail in two canoes made from birch bark. They made their way west across Lake Michigan, into Green Bay, down the Fox River, over to Wisconsin River before making their way to the mighty river, known as Mississippi in a month's time. They met up with an Illinois Tribe and they camped with them for a few days. The tribe gave the explorers a calumet to show the other tribes they come across that they are meaning no harm to others.

Calumet is an ornamented ceremonial pipe of the American Indians
Image and defination used from Merriam Webster online dictionary.

They made their way as far south as near present day Arkansas. They came upon a few tribes, some unfriendly and tried to charge out at the canoes but the current was too strong for the Native Americans. They got word of a hostile group of Spaniards living further south down the river. It was well known, by that time, that the river flows north and south, and does not flow west to the Pacific Ocean like once thought. To avoid any conflicts the group decided to head back north. They were only 435 miles from the mouth of the Mississippi River. From the Native Americans, the group learned it would be easier to head east across the Illinois River towards the bottom of Lake Michigan. Father Marquette made his way back to a mission in Green Bay, Wisconsin while Jolliet ventured back to Quebec to share the news of his findings to the governor of New France, Count Frontenac. Unfortunately, on the way back, Jolliet's canoe capsized and his maps and journal were forever lost to the river of St. Lawrence. The notes used for the territory was based upon Marquette's notes from his journal and from the memory of Jolliet.

Painting of Marquette and Jolliet meeting with the Native Americans
(could be the Illinois Tribe on their way exploring the Mississippi River)
Photo by J. Moyer December 2017 in Ludington, Michigan

In 1675, Father Marquette ventured again towards the south end of Lake Michigan in Illinois Territory to set up a missionary with some of the Native American's he had met during his exploration with Jolliet. His health was fading fast from dysentery he received on his way back from the Mississippi River excursion. He would become the first European to stay the winter, which is now, the city of Chicago. The harsh winter cold did not help his health condition at all.

Knowing his life was near its end, Father Marquette wanted to go to a place he dearly loved, back to St. Ignace. He knew it was going to be a long journey but he prayed God would see him though the trip. Two boatmen (I have read Frenchmen and I have read Native American converts) accompanied him on his voyage along the eastern side of Lake Michigan towards St. Ignace. Coming upon present day Ludington, between Pere Marquette Lake and Lake Michigan, Father Marquette knew he wasn't going to live much longer. He asked to be taken ashore, and there the two boatmen created a small shelter and lit a fire and tried to make things as comfortable for him in his last hours.

On May 18, 1675, at the age of 38, Father Jacques Marquette peacefully passed away. The boatmen buried him there in the dunes and made a cross to be placed on top of his grave. Two years later, members of his converts from the Huron tribe in St. Ignace, came down to the burial area and dug him back up. As custom to their heritage, they removed his skin, bleached his bones by the sun, and may have even broken up some of his bones as a way of honoring Marquette as one of their own. They put his remains in a birch bark box and sailed back to the mission at St. Ignace.

The mission was set on fire shortly after 1698, when Antoine de Lamothe Cadillac (aka Mad Anthony Wayne), commander of the fort that was built there and persuaded the Native American's staying there to follow him to Fort Pontchartrain, which is now present day Detroit. The other Jesuit priests burned it down so other Native Americans would not desecrate it.

Two hundred years later, in 1877, the Mission foundation was discovered just under the soil with some old vegetation covering the top, on the property of Patrick Murray, as he was clearing off his land for farming. He hired Joseph Manly to come out and investigate the findings and discovered 35 fragments of bone, largest one about two inches in length. Those remains are believed to be of Father Marquette.

In 1882, the village board of St. Ignace resolved the issue to have a memorial park created, with a grave marker in place to honor Father Marquette and all that he has accomplished.

Grave site of Father Marquette in St. Ignace
Photo by J. Moyer July 2019

Cross on top of Marquette's grave site
Photo by J. Moyer July 2019

At the base of Marquette's burial site.
Photo by J. Moyer July 2019

Photo by J. Moyer July 2019

Full image of the mural on the side of a building in Ludington, Michiagn
Photo by J. Moyer December 2017

Sources:

http://thelastlordofparadise.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-black-robes-of-new-france.html

https://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1149.html

http://www.mifamilyhistory.org/mimack/1883historyupperpen/pages366-372.aspx

http://blogs.detroitnews.com/history/2000/06/10/the-mystery-of-pere-marquettes-final-resting-place/

https://cdn.citl.illinois.edu/courses/aiiopcmpss/Essays/marquette/marquette-aboutjournal.htm

https://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1184&context=palimpsest

http://www.americanjourneys.org/aj-051/summary/

https://thehistoryjunkie.com/jacques-marquette-facts/

https://www.biography.com/religious-figure/jacques-marquette

Tuesday, August 6, 2019

Lakenenland Sculpture Park

Photo by J. Moyer July 2019

When traveling east or west on Michigan's northern region of the upper peninsula on M-28, through Chocolay Township in Marquette County, be careful not to blink as you might miss a fun and entertaining little spot - Lakenenland Sculpture Park.

Tom Lakenen, the inspiring welding artist, encourages people to walk, bike, drive, and even snowmobile (Snowmobile trail #417) anytime, any day around his 37 acres of his mastermind sculpture oddities. He has very creative uses with the scrap metal he uses in his unique creations. He gives honor to the military, recognition to historical events, and even pokes a little fun at the government with his sculptures. There are majestic pieces of artwork as well as pieces that make you laugh. As a person snakes their way through the well used trail in a pine forest, they become mesmerized by Tom Lakenen's special talent for taking scrap metal and turning it into something interesting to gaze upon.

Creating this permanent exhibit did not go without struggle from the local government. As Tom's talent grew it caught the attention to the politicians and they were displeased about how he was placing his artwork. They went around and around with each other. In 2003, Tom bought the land the sculpture park now sits on so it will be easier availability to the public. The local government still raised eyebrows and pushed against Tom's idea. Tom eventually was able to have his sculpture park with the delight from the tourists who wish to come by and see it. The area is so thankful for the hard work Tom has done and how his sculpture park is bringing visitors to the area that in 2011 he was honored with Township Citizen of the Year award.

Tom asks nothing more of his guests except happy faces when they leave. There is a donation box but the focus is that the tourist has a nice time as they see the variety of artwork on display. This is a totally free roadside attraction for all to enjoy. And that is how Tom would like it to be. He wants his "junkyard art" to be enjoyed by many.